The XPD race site is now live. In 2 weeks time, 47 teams from over 7 different countries will be embarking on an expedition into the unknown in tropical north Queensland.

Follow their final preparations and their every movement in the race at http://geocentric.geo-loco.com/xpd/

Live GPS tracking and team blogs from the course will give viewers at home an unprecedented insight into the highs and lows of expedition adventure racing. There will also be live feeds linked via twitter, race reports as well as video footage and photos.

From today, fans, family and friends can cheer on and provide valuable morale support to their favourite teams by sending “trail mail”. This will be received by teams in the lead up to the event and at various points on the course.

The revolutionary site is a combined effort by Geocentric, TrackMe360.com and Untamed Adventure.

XPD is open to mixed, all male or all female teams of four. The exact course is kept secret until 24hrs before the start. Then with much excitement and anticipation, teams are provided a course booklet and their race maps. The course booklet contains the location of each of the race checkpoints. Once teams start, racing is 24 hours per day; teams choose when and where they will sleep. The winning team is expected to complete the course in 4-5 days. All other teams will be permitted up to 10 days to complete the expedition without mid-race cut offs. XPD will be challenging for first time racers and experienced teams alike.

As a member of the AR World Series, XPD is a qualifying event for the Adventure Race World Championship (ARWC). The AR World Series is an international circuit of premiere adventure races representing 10 countries creating a 12 month calendar of professional events around the world. The top two teams at each qualifying event receive automatic entry to the ARWC.

XPD receives generous support from Macpac, Verofit, Rydges, Adventure Racing World Series and Sleepmonsters.

Via press release

Endurance sports in the Middle East are funny things. It’s true, every country in every region has its own challenges. UK athletes often endure blinding wind and rain. Scandinavians deal with year-round snow and plummeting temperatures. The unrelenting humidity in SE Asia literally saps everything from its athletes. In the Middle East, we deal with the heat.

This isn’t news to anyone. Much of the Middle East is one large uninterrupted desert and with deserts, comes heat. Not really a surprise. But what some people might find interesting is just how formidable an obstacle the heat can become.

Today is April 24. In my home state of Minnesota, the temperature at the time of writing is 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I can imagine endurance athletes by the hundreds setting off on Saturday morning runs, hikes or bikes amidst windless paths beneath clear, crisp blue skies that conceal just the slightest nip in the air. To me, those are perfect training conditions.

Turn the page to training in Dubai today. After a leisurely lie-in turned into a light lunch and midday coffee, I set out for what I knew would be a bit of a difficult jog. You see, the temperature at midday here was 43 degrees. Celsius.

For those of you less familiar with the Celsius scale, that translates to 109 degrees. You read correctly. At noon on April 24, it’s 109 degrees. And this is just the beginning.

I think few in the city would disagree that summer is here. Summer in the Middle East is akin to the blustery, Arctic winters of Minnesota or other such dreadfully cold environs. Summer in the Middle East is usually the time of year when hoards of people sit inside, snack guiltlessly and get fat and complacent because the weather outside is too horrible to face.

Such is the conundrum of endurance athletes in the Middle East. You see, three of the year’s best Olys are coming up in October and December: Oman has two events sponsored by the local Al-Shanfari Group and Dubai is featuring its first SEA Dubai Oly on UAE National Day (Dec 2).

In order to get ready for what will certainly prove to be a quite strenuous autumn, athletes here have to train through the summer heat. As it is only April, we’re fortunate that evening temperatures plummet to 79 degrees (F) but we’re all mindful that by June — until around mid-September — we’ll be reaching the competitive phase of our training regiments through summer days that bring 120 degrees at a shockingly consistent clip.

Woe to the Middle Eastern triathlete? No, I’m not writing for sympathy. I’m just writing because I’ve found myself with a bit of time to kill after my forfeited attempt at a midday jog. Like the rest of the mugs in the city, I’m killing time indoors until the sun sets and some sort of sunbaked sanity resumes.

Questions about training or events in the Middle East? Drop me a line at xtremejourno@gmail.com. I’m Jeff.